Yes its Fidelity Freak, still alive and kicking. Well, my Sennheiser IE8's were kicking along well till I decided to replace the silicon tips. When I removed the left one, the whole sound shaft (the part with the mesh on top) detached from the body just by removing the silicon tip. Odd indeed. Only had these for 11 months, so sent these back to the seller (Sennheiser Authorised Dealer), and have been told that I will instead be sent the new Sennheiser IE80's to replace the IE8's as these are no longer being manufactured. Keep in mind the IE8's cost me AU $540, so not exactly cheap by any stretch of the imagination. The IE80's are selling for AU $529 (not RRP of course), so cant wait to give these a spin and burn-in.

I must admit going from mediocre overpriced earphones, including Beats, Sony, and even Jays with their **** sound, no soundstage and no bass due to their choice of micro armature technology which has more restrictions and a higher failure rate, when I first heard the IE8's I fell in love with them - they kind of defy logic - so small and so well engineered its like having a concert in your ears. Only the Germans know how to do Audio, and Sennheiser are the best at this. Apparently the IE80's fix a sound issue that was present in the IE8's, and the new ones have more clarity again.